1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal head for heating an ink sheet having ink thereon for the purpose of forming a record on a recording sheet, and a thermal printer employing such thermal head.
More particularly the present invention relates to a thermal head capable not only of a recording function but also of a function of lifting off the ink deposited on the recording sheet from said sheet for the purpose of correcting an image once recorded on the recording sheet, and a thermal printer employing such thermal head.
2. Related Background Art
As a recording unit for printers, facsimiles, typewriters etc. there is widely employed a serial recording device in which a recording head, mounted on a carriage movable along a platen, scans a recording sheet or medium for forming a record thereon.
Also various recording methods are employed in practice, such as ink jet recording, wire dot recording and thermal recording, and, in thermal recording apparatus there are known a thermal transfer printer in which a thermal head is pressed against a plain paper across an ink ribbon to transfer the fused ink to said sheet, and a thermal printer in which a thermal head is pressed against and heats a heat-sensitive sheet capable of generating a color by heating, thereby forming a record by direct heating.
Furthermore, among such ink ribbons there are known a penetrating type which causes penetration of the thermally fused ink into the recording sheet, and an adhesion or non-penetrating type in which the ink is fixed to the surface of the recording sheet principally by the adhesive force of the ink in the fused state. In such adhesion type a correction can be made by lifting off the ink once deposited.
However, in the use of an ink ribbon of such adhesion type, the recording (fusion and transfer of ink) and the lift-off (fusion and peeling of ink) cannot be controlled with a conventional thermal head, but can only be achieved through the replacement of the head or a mechanical change in the peeling position of the ink ribbon.